In a true example of pride and denial, the Episcopal Church and its Virginian diocese are preparing to battle with some of its former members of property that equates to millions of dollars.

The members are the majorities of 11 former Episcopal congregations that voted to separate from an Episcopal (Anglican) Church that has “continually walked away from their scriptural foundation”. They caused a large commotion back in 2003 when they ordained an openly homosexual man as bishop. Since then, they have continued their slide and compromise of scripture. It is this that has brought about the separation.

The sad thing is, when the split was announced, the first reaction of both the Virginian diocese and the Episcopal Church was in the form of lawsuits to make sure that they kept the land. It wasn’t about the people or trying to heal the rift they caused. They have reacted to this situation in a very prideful way. They are defending their right to the property by saying that no split occurred because the governing body of the EC didn’t recognize it.

In other words, “We know that there is a lot of wrong and that we’re the source. We know that we are causing a lot of grief and strife, but instead of dealing with it, we’re just going to pretend that it’s not happening…”

The funny thing is, if I were looking at the case (and I realize that I’m not), I would side with the people who split, because their argument and concern that the EC is no longer holding to scripture is true. Because of this, I would determine that the EC is no longer representing the church that its congregations were told it was. The church is basically false advertising. If this is true and the EC is no longer truly the EC, then they really don’t have any right to the property that they claim is theirs.

What’s sad about all of this, is that there are going to be two trials and in the end, people who profess to be Christians are just going to make the rest of us look like the world. How does any of this spread the message of the gospel? How does any of this keep people from going to hell? It doesn’t.